Some Social Security beneficiaries are entitled to more than one type of benefit. In most cases, they are dually entitled to a worker benefit and a higher spouse or widow(er) benefit. If both benefits are financed from the same trust fund, the beneficiary is usually counted only once in the statistics, as a retired-worker or a disabled-worker beneficiary, and the benefit amount recorded is the larger amount associated with the auxiliary benefit. If the benefits are paid from different trust funds the beneficiary is counted twice, and the respective benefit amounts are recorded for each type of benefit.

a. Includes special age-72 beneficiaries.

Excludes a number of Railroad Retirement beneficiaries who would have been eligible for Social Security benefits had they applied. The reason they have not applied is that receipt of a Social Security benefit would reduce their Railroad Retirement benefit by a like amount. The number of Railroad Retirement beneficiaries who would be eligible for a Social Security benefit if they applied is not available, but is estimated to be less than 100,000.

b. Benefits paid from the OASI trust fund to retired workers and their spouses and children and to all survivors.

c. Benefits paid from the DI trust fund to disabled workers and their spouses and children.